Stopping parakeets from breeding

[ccmarie]

We were given a pair of parakeets from a friend. We'd had them in the past, and even when we had male and female we could never get them to breed. Well, these two immediately got busy. After the first two clutches we planned to remove the nest box, but she started laying even before the last two left the nest. After the third clutch, we moved her into a cage on her own, without a nest box, as soon as the babies started growing decent feathers. However, once all four left the box we moved the father to the female's cage to keep her company, and they immediately began mating. Since there is no nest box in that cage, will she become egg bound if we don't put it back, or can she somehow prevent becoming gravid? How long should we have kept them apart, or is there anything we can do to stop them and keep her healthy?

 

[zbit]

For what it is worth we received keets the same way you did and the cage included a nest box full of eggs (infertile). We did the following and though we still see some mating behaviors there are no longer any eggs laid and the female has never been egg bound.
Covered their cage with a dark blanket early-giving them only 8- 10 hours of daylight.(longer days might trigger the egg laying)
Pulled their nest box and anything else that could be considered a nesting site out of the cage (no safe place to lay and egg)
Moved around the toys and perches inside the cage every couple of weeks(changes seemed to keep their interest)
I am not sure if all are needed but the nest box removal and daylight change seemed to have the most immediate response for us. I hope you can find the best solution for your birds and that others with more experience will post other solutions for you.

 

[ccmarie]

Okay, thanks. My husband said he saw them mating right away but maybe it was just the behavior and we're still safe.